The NotSoForgotten Realm
by Child of the Dragon
Summary: Drizzt falls into our world. Whoopies.
1. From Left Field

**Chapter One: From Left Field**

Drizzt Do'Urden awoke just before nightfall, the relative same time he had awoken nearly every day since he'd settled down in Icewind Dale nearly five months ago. With a yawn and slight stretch he considered sleeping in just a few more minutes, the furs of his sleeping area feeling unusually soft and warm. He considered the fading, but still ample amount of light collected outside for a brief moment before he rolled over into the comfort of his simple bed and closed his lavender eyes. He promised himself that he wouldn't fall back asleep necessarily, but just bide some time for it to get a little darker. That plan was tampered, however, when a rough but soft tongue dragged itself across the side of his face and drew forth a short laugh from the Drow.

"Guenhwyvar," he said, making a futile attempt to burrow into the furs, "just a little longer." The panther let out a low non-threatening growl and bumped his shoulder with its head. Drizzt grunted in response but made no movement. Again his shoulder was met with a firm but gentle nudge meant only to rouse the Drow and when that yielded the same response, Guenhwyvar stood up and batted a careful paw at Drizzt's shoulder. Feeling the gentle rake of velvet claws over his bare skin Drizzt rolled once more onto his back and regarded the panther that had for so long been his only friend. Yellow eyes looked down from a head cocked slightly to the side in a look that clearly said to Drizzt, '_you've slept long enough. It's time to get up. There is work to be done_.'

"Okay," he conceded, reaching a hand out to run over Guenhwyvar's sleek, dark fur. He smiled at the panther, glad for the ever watchful company as the large cat closed its eyes and growled contently at the touch, even pressing its head more firmly into the hand. "Thank you, for reminding me to be diligent," he sighed.

As Drizzt rose, Guenhwyvar stepped back and circled to the front of the cave. It didn't take the Drow long to collect the chainmail and scimitars he removed for comfort's sake when resting, they were always right within his reach when he slumbered. It was only recently that he'd taken to removing them again, finally feeling secure enough in his new home to sleep without them on. The hard winter months had prevented most anyone or thing from crawling into his cave and attacking him, though he'd already had the misfortune of being driven away from a few choice spots from barbarians, yetis, and a silly lost human from Ten-Towns who'd brought an angry fleet up there after him with the first thaw before the whole matter about leaving him in peace was resolved. Seems Cassius hadn't thought to mention to the other towns right away that he'd let a Drow find his home up a little farther in the mountains. To say the other towns were unsettled by the revelation was putting it mildly.

He sighed and brushed the unpleasant memories from his thoughts. He had a few friends now, Guenhwyvar for sure and a halfling named Regis as well as the dwarf king Bruenor, and Drizzt supposed that would just have to be enough for him now. He longed for more friends and the complex social interactions that would come from living with close neighbors, maybe even a family someday, but recent events had minded him once more to be careful how high he let his hopes build up. For a moment he paused at the entrance to the cave as he wondered if, in the coming of the warm months, he would be chased off with more passion this time when snow and harsh weather wouldn't hinder the townsfolk as they had before. And if they did, what would happen to him then? The dwarves were still weary and Regis was timid in his own ways. Once more, Drizzt shook away the current thoughts bombarding his mind for though these were unpleasant too his spirit truly could not stand to contemplate what it would mean for him if he would be pushed away, yet again.

"Come Guenhwyvar," Drizzt forced an airy tone into his voice, more to convince himself that all was well. The panther looked up in the usual way it often regarded its master, not once missing the deeper emotions the Drow tried to hide. "I think some breakfast is in order before we set to work."

* * *

Catti-brie smiled as she came around a turn it the rocks and found Drizzt striking up a fire. The rabbit he'd caught lay motionless beside him, and his beloved Guenhwyvar was a few paces away already peeling the snowy fur off its own kill. She watched him labor over his work, his back turned to her as he blew gently on the kindle to flame the smoking sparks caught there, and her smile widened most mischievously as a thought came to her. Crouching low and as quietly as she could, the young girl snuck forward toward the Drow, careful to keep out of his line of sight. She was almost upon him, carefully drawing in a deep breath, when he uttered, "Nice try, Catti-brie, but I heard you coming before you knew I was even here."

She let out her breath in a huff and relaxed her muscles. "How did ye know it was me?" she asked, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder as she came around to sit beside him. Drizzt finished his work on the fire with a small mysterious smile.

"I have my own ways," he told her.

"I stopped by earlier in the day, ye was sleeping," the bright girl said. She reached over and patted Guenhwyvar's rump with one mitten covered hand. "Guen turned me away to let ye, but seemed startled when I first came around." Cattie-brie eyed the drow. "Ye haven't been in any trouble, have ye?"

"None that wasn't expected," Drizzt told her. He tried to smile reassuringly and added on, before she could press for details, "Speaking of keeping out of trouble, I think this is the latest I've seen you out. The sky will soon be dark, and I don't imagine your father would be wholly pleased to find you still outside when it is."

"I'm with you," Catti-brie said. "I'm safe." He smiled at her, touched by her faith in him and the deep friendship he found in her. "Besides, I just got here," she continued, "and me wanted to make sure ye were faring well. Oh! And I brought ye this." The young girl dug into a bag she carried that had seen better days. Out from it she pulled a folded collection of woven thickness, a blanket of many layers of color with no discernible pattern. "I wanted to give it too ye before the first snows, but all me was allowed was scrap yarn for it, so it took a little longer to weave…"

"It's wonderful," Drizzt told her, marveling at the blanket. His dark hands carefully unfolded it to the full size, and Catti-brie cringed inwardly when she saw it wasn't nearly as tall as her friend, but the drow hardly noticed. "Thank you, Catti-brie," he said. "It is the nicest thing I've ever been given." She smiled at him.

They sat for a while longer, and Drizzt shared some of the meal he'd cooked with her. As the sun began to dip into the west, the drow finally stood up and helped Catti-brie do the same. They truly weren't a far walk from the front doors to the dwarven homes but Drizzt wasn't surprised to see Bruenor waiting for them, flanked on either side by gruff and fierce looking guards, as twilight set upon the land. "Yer late!" the king called. "What have I told ye about being out after dark?"

"It's my fault," Drizzt told him, bowing slightly. "I wished for her company after long months spent alone; I'm sorry good king, but it will never happen again."

"Don't be making excuses," Bruenor said, waving him off. "I'd be a fool of a king if I didn't know my daughter better than that. Get inside girl." He pretended not to notice when Cattie-brie hugged Drizzt quickly around the waist before she skipped toward her adoptive kin. The dwarf nodded curtly behind her back at the drow, a motion that he'd come to know as the closest thing he was going to get in thanks from the king for looking after the girl the way he would have even if her father hadn't muttered something about doing just that nearly four months ago. Drizzt calmly turned and walked off into the raising shadows of night.

Guenhwyvar bumped his leg when he was a good distance away, having stayed behind in the shadows where the panther wouldn't startle the already edgy dwarfs. The panther rubbed its head up into Drizzt's hand and he scratched firmly.

"I know," Drizzt said to the panther. "It's time for you to go back. Thank you, my friend." Guenhwyvar padded away then, slowly turning to mist and then dissolving into nothing. Drizzt was left alone then to his rounds. He stepped forward, meaning to get right into it when there came a sudden blinding flash of light. One hand flew up to shield his sensitive eyes and the other found its way to the hilt of his scimitar, but a panic feeling overtook him when that too seemed to fade away like the mist that Guenhwyvar was made from.

The dazzling light grew to such intensity that he had to shut his eyes, but even that didn't keep the burning sensation of it form boring into him. The air around him swirled, violently so, and on some back burner of his mind he realized that it wasn't just his weapons that had disappeared, it felt like he was falling apart into nothing but couldn't do anything to stop it. Just as suddenly as this strange phenomenon began it stopped just as violently when his back slammed into something that forced the air out of his lungs. He laid there for what seemed like a long time before sensation came back into his limbs. Since he wasn't falling, for he was sure his body couldn't support any weight right then if it tried, he assumed that what he'd hit was the ground, though it wasn't the rock, dirt and icy snow he knew in the tundra of his new home. He couldn't place what the strange sensation of this kind of floor was, but he could clearly feel it pressed up against every inch of his backside.

Every, _bare naked_, inch of his backside.

Drizzt moaned and tried to roll over, then became aware of a shuffling and muffled squeak. Sensing something else in close proximity to him, and unable to place what it was, the prone drow fought off the dregs of his stun to move into a defensive position or find a weapon, anything to defend himself. There was another tiny scream and then something heavy slammed into the side of his head, effectively knocking him unconscious for several minutes.

* * *

Katie cautiously leaned over the strange naked man now lying face down on her bedroom carpet. She clutched the baseball bat tighter in her hands, ready to swing again if he tried to stir once more. She had little doubt as to what he was with his black ebony skin and pointed ears sticking out from strands of snow white hair, but that only served to make her clutch the bat tighter. Drow were dangerous. Naked or not, drow were dangerous.

A million things ran through her head, why and how and a million different whats, but who rang the clearest and frightened as she was to go anywhere near the body of a drow warrior she knew only one way to check. Creeping ever so slowly, as though he would spring up and stab her at even the slightest sound, she reached a trembling hand toward the body, the other one gripping the bat like a lifeline, and ever so carefully brushed aside the soft white hair that covered his face. She took steadying breaths and carefully peeled back the eyelid.

Stunned lavender irises stared blankly back, unable to process any picture at the moment.

"Oh…..my…..god….."


	2. Vindicated

**Alexander Raphel**: First of all, thank you for affirming that I'm not crazy about Guenhwyvar's gender. Once upon a long time ago I had read _The Thousand Orcs_ but I can hardly remember most of what happened now. I've started reading from Drizzt's beginning and in the 4 1/2 books that I've gotten through, not once is Guen referred to as female. (Please insert me rage flipping a table here.) It has bothered me a great deal. You would think that little matter might have gotten cleared up with Mooshie, but NOPE. I don't know if Mr. Salvatore switches that little detail later on in his books but, as this fic takes place between _Sojourn_ and _The Crystal Shard_ and he's gone through four books where he makes a point of keeping Guen's gender very neutral, "it" is what I'll be referring to Guen as. Though I think this is all a bit of a moot point…. Secondly, I apologize for the grammar errors; my spell check is actually failtacular in that department. It's also not superb at catching redundancies, and most of my betas have grown lives as of late. The one that I've been depending on actually has some unresolved rage with Drizzt, and kinda just wants me to inflict horrible pain upon him, which I find myself curiously reluctant to actually do….but considering the redundant nature of the story, I'm not too horribly worried about it. Lastly, but certainly not least, thank you very much for the honest critique. :)

**Auragonian**: Cruse you and your foresight! Actually, not exactly. But I don't want to say too much on the matter just yet. Also, anything just POOF!ing into your house before your eyes kinda invokes the wrath of the baseball bat home protection system, at least. Drizzt is just lucky I gave him to Katie and not Lilith first. Also, thank you for the review. :)

**Littleblueshadow**: I do like reading stories like this too. XD Found one where Jarlaxle & Artemis had to follow Drizzt into our world and it was hilaaarious. Hopefully this one will be just as entertaining. Thank you for the review.

**Reinamarie Seregon:** Thank you for the review. Yes, I read that fic as well, though I found myself laughing more at Jarlaxle then anything Drizzt did. I was also saddened when they gave up on it, so I'm determined to see this through. :)

**Chapter Two: Vindicated**

"Drow…Drow elf…oh god, a drow…is in…my…bedroom…Oh god," Katie chanted. She'd been ecstatic at seeing the purple eyes, but a logical part of her brain quickly shot down her hopes with a brutal realization: Dark elves weren't supposed to be real and, even if by some stroke of luck they were, how exactly could she trust that this one laying prone at her feet was any measure of good? Every book she'd ever read about them in portrayed them as vile, cut throat, ruthless, wicked beings, and one hundred percent made up. So the chances that a real drow just decided to pop into her bedroom at 8 o'clock at night were slim. The chances that he'd be all for sitting back and drinking a cup of tea with her while discussing the social standings of her teddy bears were less than even that.

The body moaned and started to move, earning a blood curdling scream from the woman as she raised her bat for another strike. But her mind played an even cruller trick on her this time, relaying all that she'd ever read about the swift fighting techniques of the elves of the Underdark and in her own fear she froze herself solid. Terrified, she watched in horror as the black being, slowly, pushed himself up. A thousand ways that he could kill her played over in her mind's eye.

Drizzt moaned lowly again, still stunned from the beating he'd taken. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he could still hear the alarming bell ringing for _Danger!_ but then, that could have just been the ringing in his own ears. He rubbed the back of his head where he'd been hit, hissing at just how tender it felt and the goose egg already swelling up. Then he turned and when his lavender eyes fell upon the frightened woman his own face mimicked the look of distress she wore. "Don't strike!" he bade her, throwing up his own hands to block any forthcoming attacks.

"Who The Fuck Are You?" she screamed, already in hysterics. "Just Who The Fuck Are You And What The Fuck Are You Doing Here?" Bravery seemed to flood back into her and the woman brought the bat down before her, holding it out to ward him off should he come near. The club trembled in her hands though still fearing what he was, even if part of her didn't want to believe it.

"Peace, good woman," Drizzt spoke softly, trying to calm her as he cautiously maneuvered away. "I mean you no harm. I assure you, I am as confused…" he eyed the bat, "And as frightened as you find yourself. Please, calm yourself."

"You're a naked black man in my bedroom," Katie hissed. "Don't fucking tell me to calm down!"

The ranger's face heated significantly when he finally took note that she was right. "I'm sorry if that has upset you," he tried once more, chastely moving behind the bed this time. Thankfully she seemed more than happy to keep her place on the other side further into the room and hold her ground there. "Truly, I would not have shown myself to you in this state if I could have helped it, but I fear I had no control in that matter."

"WHO. ARE. YOU." Each of her words this time were punctuated with a threatening jab of the bat she clutched.

"Drizzt Do'Urden," he told her. "Please let me explain—"

"When Guenhwyvar was sent to kill you in the Underdark, what did you tell them?"

"How do you—"

"Answer the question!"

He looked at her curiously, unable to determine if her sudden knowledge about him should scare him more deeply or not. "…I bade them to fight the orders given," the drow finally said, "That I would not rise my blades against a friend even if that meant I would be killed for it. And if I should be killed, that I would not blame poor Guenhwyvar for being forced against their will to do such a terrible thing."

She nodded, satisfied. "How many of your sister's fingers did you sever, and which sister?"

"Two fingers, right hand, of my eldest sister Briza."

The woman nodded again, more solemnly. "The Thisledown boy…how did he get you to come to approach him first?"

Drizzt hissed lowly, the memory still stinging his heart. "The boy pretended to be in trouble; I noted distress in his voice and stepped forward to be of aid. We could not understand one another, however, and he fled." He waited for any more questions or responses, but the woman said nothing more. "Are you satisfied with needling emotions from?" Drizzt asked, a ting of bitterness in his voice.

"Don't move," she said, more firmly than anything else that had passed her lips. Deliberately she moved onto the bed, always keeping her wooden weapon out in fount of her, but moving ever closer to the dark elf crouched guardedly beside her bed. Once more she reached out to touch him, but her hand was steady this time. Wide lavender eyes followed her firm approach and the only thing that kept him from turning his head to continue to do so was his desire to keep her calm. Tentative, pale fingers found the tips of his ears and frighteningly gently ran along the cartilage. A sensation Drizzt had never felt, a thrill of sorts that was not as driving as adrenaline, stirred within him but held him still in the same moment. He was momentarily reminded of the first time he seen Cattie-brie reaching a brave hand out to pet Guenhwyvar. This time tough, he let the woman continue her explorations without interruption.

Her hand wrapped gradually around his whole ear and, not harshly, tugged. He grunted, the pull being mildly discomforting to his heightened senses. She tried the experiment once more and received the same results then moved her hand down to the side of his face and across it. Nervously, Drizzt closed his eyes as her fingers past over him. At once he could feel her own mind, her heart and emotions, and he knew that as she explored his features her own fear ebbed away while understanding took over. Pacifying the initial fear, he conveyed to her his own longing to be accepted. When she finally removed her pale hands from his black face, and he could open his eyes, the bat laid harmlessly on the bed beside her.

"Drizzt," she said, her voice soft and calm. "I am Katie Burrows."

"Well met, Katie Burrows," he answered.

"Well met," she echoed.

The drow took a moment to regard her, pulling himself to a more even level by rocking onto his knees. Her long, dark brown hair was loose around her face, and strands of it would fall forward if she bent her face too low. The rest was twined together on either side of her neck in two thick braids, stopping just short of the fullest part of her chest. Loose fitting clothes concealed her form, the black tunic coming up a little short for a dress, and the pink pants reaching down past even her ankles. With an uncomfortable shift, for he was once again reminded of his bare body, Drizzt added, "If I may be allowed to ask, could I trouble you for some clothes? I…seem to have misplaced mine…" He pressed his face against the mattress to hide the growing heat that flushed into his cheeks.

"Yes!" Katie snapped, seeming to come out of the trance of their encounter. "Umm, what size are you?" When she was met only with puzzled lavender eyes, she waved the question off and bounded away out of the room. The ranger took the opportunity to look about and make note of his surroundings. There where bookshelves nearly over following with tombs, and some clothes scattered all about. A long shelf ran along one wall and housed dolls and knickknacks or all shapes and sizes. Large and bright colored pictures adorned the walls with the most stylized designs of humans he had ever seen. Some bladed device twirled from the ceiling, generating a soft air current.

"Here, I think these will fit," Katie's voice pulled him back to the doorway. "I mean, Dezzi is really skinny, but…maybe you'll be alright wearing them…" She held out neatly folded garments. With a grateful smile Drizzt took them.

"Thank you very much. I'll be sure to return them in prime condition," the ranger promised.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'll umm…wait for you in the living room right outside, okay?" Nodding, she bowed out.

* * *

It didn't take Drizzt horribly long to figure out how to dress himself. He tugged uncomfortably at the collar of the shirt as he emerged, the cloth feeling like it was trying to wrap a hold around his neck and choke if he let it be. When he did make his way down the short hallway, Katie stood off to the side in an open kitchen floor plan, holding open the door to a tall silver box that shone a light on her features. Drizzt's discomfort was momentarily forgotten as he padded toward her and the magic box.

She bent forward and rummaged for a moment, eventually standing back up with something in her hands that the drow couldn't see. Too focused on what she held, Katie closed the door and spun right into the ranger, screaming in terror as she did so. Drizzt whirled and assumed a defensive crouch, shocked that anything could sneak up on him, but found no danger in the otherwise empty house.

"What are you…doing?"

Lowering hands he'd risen to fend off attacks, Drizzt turned back around. "I thought you saw…" His face heated embarrassingly as he realized what had caused her to scream was only himself. Lamely, he added, "…danger…"

"I thought I had too," Katie told him bluntly. "That's why I screamed." Sidestepping him put her next to the stove where she began making some preparations.

Drizzt's face grew hotter.

"Oh," the woman said, looking back at her only house guest. "I guess I should ask, you're hungry right? I mean, I was gunna cook this bacon if you were, but I didn't ask, and you just startled me. I'm not really hungry, but if you are then I can try cooking for us."

"No," Drizzt said, shifting his weight. "It hasn't been that long since I ate last. I can wait."

"Oh good," Katie sighed.

The drow noted with a bit of amusement how fast she put everything back in contrast to how long it had taken her to gather the cookware and bacon. "May I ask a question?" he asked over the idle clatter she made. Once Katie had stilled and gave him her undivided attention, he went on. "Where…am I?" he inquired, looking around to emphasize his point. "This dwelling is not like any I have ever seen before. And it all seems…not quite right to me…It's not wrong but it is…unusual?"

For the first time in maybe her entire life, Katie looked out into the rest of her apartment in the wonderment that Drizzt was trying to describe to her. The purple couch and love seat facing the large box TV and entertainment center, the plush tan carpet, the plastic blinds hanging shut over the tall and wide window, the lamps with multiple heads and just as many colorations in the lights, and all of the pictures lining the walls of framed along the side tables and bookshelves. She had always thought these and many other things were quite mundane, everyday artifacts in a collection that made up her life and existence. Drizzt didn't seem wholly bothered by them, but she suddenly became aware of how his eyes lingered on the things he wouldn't truly know about from his realm. And she suddenly felt a little overwhelmed in the thought of having to housebreak the poor, lost drow.

"Ummm….You're….in Tucson. Arizona. Tucson is the name of the town. Or city, I guess. I mean, we're pretty big, we have a large population and all. So…do you know how you got here?"

Drizzt gave her a puzzled look. "You called me here," he said, but the confusion on his face showed that he didn't know how true those words were. "And then you beat me…with a club…And I'm unsure as to why you would do that…"

"I did that because I didn't call you," Katie said. "I didn't summon you or anything; I was getting ready to go to bed and _POOF!_ There you were, laying naked on my floor!" She frowned and rubbed the back of his head where she'd hit him, causing the drow to flinch at just how tender it still was. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. I just wasn't sure you were exactly you, ya know? Would you like some ice for that or anything?" She went back to the kitchen to get him an icepack anyway.

"If you did not summon me, then why am I here?"

"Do I look like a fricken' well of information to you?"

A cold ice pack helped the swelling a bit and Katie steered Drizzt to one of four chairs sitting around a table. "Well then…how far is Icewind Dale and Ten-Towns from here?"

"A lot farther then you can walk," Katie told him.

"I made the journey once. It can't be so bad a second time."

"No I mean, it's _A LOT_ farther then you can walk. Drizzt, you're not even in the same realm anymore."

Lavender eyes stared almost disbelieving at her. "If I am not in the same realm anymore, then how is it that you know who I am? How are you aware of the things that I have done?"

She turned and walked to one of the many bookcases lining the same wall Drizzt's chair sat against. A moment of scanning, and some shuffling, eventually she found what she sought. Whirling again, she presented him with one of the heavy and thicker tombs from the shelves. He recognized his name at once as his own dark hand reached for the volume. On the cover was a monochromatic image, the fierce glare of a drow warrior in violet hues and shades stared back. Katie could see where the image was striking to his own likeness, though she could also see were some of the facial features were not quite the same either. If Drizzt was aware of such minuscule discrepancies, he didn't bat an eyelash. Carefully, he opened the book to some random page and his lavender eyes roamed back and forth across the pages there.

The woman who had sheltered the drow thus far slowly sat down before him know, looking not unlike a devoted believer gazing upon their worshiped entity for the first time. Something in the written words moved him and his eyes soon became too bright in the sheen of fresh tears. One hand slowly traced the page, caressing in a tender way. Then he seemed to rapidly blink the emotional pain away and flipped randomly to another page. Fascinated, Katie held her breath while his emotions played out over his features once more, lavender eyes narrowing into slits and lips drawing a fine line. She already knew such unguarded display, however infinitesimal, was rare for Drizzt and so she held still and waited, afraid even the smallest disturbance from her would break the soft magic of his concentration.

Drizzt closed the book with a sudden, but soft, motion anyway. "You scripted this?" he questioned. She shook her head reverently. "Then who?"

"RA Salvatore," Katie replied, pointing to the name on the book. "I reckon he wrote all the books about you, but you're mentioned in others, I think. I haven't read those, though. I was just told that by my last roommate, but he could've been pulling my chain."

"How does he know about me?" Drizzt pressed. "Even the details I hadn't thought to tell anyone about?"

"Umm…I think he plays Dungeons and Dragons? I wouldn't really know…"

"And you're friends with him and he gave you this book about me?"

Katie laughed. Even in the utmost serious demeanor Drizzt had adopted, the notion was just a bit too silly for her to keep a straight face. "I'm sorry, Drizzt," she giggled. "But no, I'm not friends with Mr. Salvatore. I've never even met him, though I'd like too. Books are massed produced in this world. What you're holding now? There are probably millions of copies just like it floating around. I bought that at a store, a book store."

"Millions of copies?" Drizzt repeated. "Millions of people know of my life and the things I have done?" She nodded, overlooking the way his expression soured. A black fist slammed down on the book and Katie suddenly became acutely aware of the anger in the drow's lavender eyes. "Millions of people know of the personal things I would have rather kept to myself?"

"Whoa, honey, it's okay, don—"

"It is _NOT_ okay!" Throwing the ice pack down, Drizzt rose to his feet and started away from the table. The cloth around his neck felt like it was choking him again and he began pulling angrily at it, trying to give his hands something to do so they wouldn't lash out harmfully against someone he knew was only trying to help. "Invasive and a rape of my personal privacy is a more accurate description! What kind of person would think it is alright to tell my whole life story, or anyone else's for that matter, to millions I do not know? The adventures and the feats I may accomplish one day, perhaps, but I have not lived long enough for there to be as many tales worth telling as the book implies! And I feel I am allowed a certain say, at least, in what deep emotional tolls I have faced being spread around amongst other people! My friends, few that I have, have allowed me that much as a common decency!"

"I…" Katie looked down at the book and back up at Drizzt several times as she tried to find the right words to use. "…I didn't think of it like that…I always kind of thought the writing glossed over some of the really bad stuff. Ya know, didn't really delve to deep."

"The fact that the book exists prods deep enough to hurt! Tell me, how exactly would you feel if you knew your life were available for the whole wide world to read? That suddenly, everyone you encounter will know all manners of things you hadn't told them yourself, even the things you were still learning to make peace with yourself? How pleased then would you be?"

The brunette thought it over in reverent silence, wringing her hands as she weighed his words. "Okay, I understand how you find this upsetting." She looked up with a soft expression. "But I already know what I already know; there's little that can be done about that and a million copies of books floating all over the place." She neglected to mention that the book she had handed him only contained the first three of his life, and that at least 10 more existed in various sets, and even more still in individual copies of each of the books as well. In a low whisper she did add, "And I really liked your stories…"

Drizzt's anger faltered. He was still mad, seethingly so, but yelling at the young woman wouldn't fix the issue he had and it did very little to make him feel better. "You know about me," he said, reigning in his fury and trying to adapt his usual passive nature. "And so do many others then…" A deep breath. Seeking something good in this whole mess he perceived. "So many would know that I am not like my people?"

Katie bobbed her head. "Not everyone liked the concept of a drow with a good heart but….I did. I do. I like you." She bowed her flushed face and pretended like the table was suddenly very interesting.

"You seemed rather frightened when I appeared before you; is this a reaction I can still expect then? Throughout this realm?"

"Well…" Katie sighed, happy to give her thoughts to a more focused objective that took away from her own flustered mind. "That sort of depends….Dwarves and elves and such don't really exist in this world, like physically, but there are people who know of them. And there are people who know what drow are." She eyed him up and down once over. "And there's really little that can be done to hide the fact that you're a dark elf…" Drizzt nodded, not really surprised anymore at the sound of his heart shattering again. "But," Katie went on, though he hardly allowed himself to hope for anything good in her next words, "I think it's really just going to come down to the people themselves. Like, sure you'll get someone who may flip out and over react, but I think mostly everyone will leave you alone. Or like, they might find you really interesting and come talk to you, but I don't think they'll be hostel." She smiled. "And if they are, you come tell me and I'll beat them up for you, alright?"

Drizzt nodded, grateful for the offer but still expecting the worst instead of hoping for the best.


	3. A Girl Worth Fighting For

Chapter Three: A Girl Worth Fighting For

It was only for a few more short hours that Katie was able to stay awake with Drizzt. She answered as many of the questions he had regarding her world, most of them a simple repeat of "what is this?" and "what does it do?" while he pointed and cautiously approached the things he'd never seen before. Finally, he noticed that she grew weary and apologized sincerely for keeping her up. Not that Katie wasn't grateful for his concern, but she set him in front of the TV and showed him how to work the remote control through the channels. Since his hearing was so fine, the volume could stay low and that came as a great relief to her as she was a light sleeper. She minded him that if he did get hungry to help himself to anything in the magic box from earlier, so long as it didn't require him to start a fire or use the stove. When she mentioned, through a mouthful of yawn, where "the facilities" were he simply nodded and pretended he knew what she meant by that. And then Katie was asleep in her own room and Drizzt was left to channel surf.

Though Drizzt found the concept of the television interesting, his eyes began to hurt after only a few short minutes of trying to look at the bright screen. He blinked away the moisture that had gathered from the strain and sat up. Softly, his hand removed the now warm ice pack Katie had given him and ran gentle fingers across the area to check it once more. Once the drow was satisfied that it wouldn't give him much trouble he looked around for something else to occupy his time with. His lavender eyes fell on the book.

Standing up, the ranger retrieved it with a cold expression, still harboring a great amount of disdain for it. He disliked even the drow that stared back at him unblinkingly, even though he was well aware it was supposed to be himself on the cover. What he had read prior, the second willing death of his father and subsequently a dear friend, had brought back brutal images of a time not that long ago in the lengthen span of his life. Though the drow had learned to make a kind of peace with himself over his choice to leave the Underdark it still hurt that he had to leave behind the first people to look past his skin and see him instead in the light of his spirit. He missed Belwar and Clacker dearly, and not for the first time did he wish that Zak could have made it out of Menzoberranzan with him.

The second scene came from much earlier in his life, when he first started to realize how contrastingly different he was from his kin. He couldn't stomach reading about the destruction of another House, about how he'd utterly cowered in the fear of the screams of those dying in front of him. If he had to do it over again he would hope that he could find the strength even then to change something, maybe save a life or two. But his mind knew it would have been futile even to try. And he was fuming at his own helplessness.

Still, knowing all of this, he wondered. The normally taciturn drow had become enraged, and he still felt that he had a right to be, but he pondered what more the book told about him. He contemplated if he could handle revisiting those dark days, knowing now that so many people he didn't know would have read these same words. Would his own reflections on that time be colored differently? Would he be made to see something he hadn't considered before? Would he only feel self-conscious and highly aware of every little thing he ever did from then on out?

His musing came to an abrupt end when the front door jiggled.

Drizzt darted swiftly across to the hallway. Pressing his back up against the wall, he listened as someone turned the lock and then slowly opened the door. Tightening his grip on the book, the drow prepared himself for battle.

Dezzi De'Mingo was tired. His relief at the security post he worked had been late, _AGAIN_, and while he didn't mind the overtime or even working nights he did mind leaving his roommate alone at night. Katie had been one of his best friends since they were little kids, even if he was older then her and she was more of his little sister's friend. The fact remained that as far as he was concerned she was family and the man didn't like the thought of leaving a young woman alone in an apartment all by herself. After all, it had been a break-in in Katie's last apartment that had prompted her to show up on his doorstep at four in the morning utterly freaked out. An overdose in the apartment next to hers the following week had the woman packing her stuff and moving in with him less than 24 hours later. Between their two jobs they could afford to live in a nice apartment complex. While it was quiet and in the good part of town he still worried because it wasn't so ritzy to be a gated community. Even on the second story, the living room window was more than large enough for anyone to walk comfortably through.

So when eleven o'clock rolled around as he was rolling into the parking lot Dezzi was glad to be home. Katie would already be a sleep, but at lease she would be safer now that he was home, so he told himself. After locking up his car, the six foot security guard made his way up the stairs that would take him home. However, he stalled outside the apartment. Through the plastic blinds he could see the flicker of TV light and not much else. Even knowing that Katie didn't have to get up the following morning, the light was odd. If she fell asleep watching TV it was because she was watching something scary and that usually prompted her turning ALL the lights in the dwelling on. And her staying up waiting for him. Often with the wood door open and the screen door shut, and her sitting right there with her baseball bat waiting for him.

Dezzi's internal alarms were ringing.

He reached for the handle of the door and found it locked, but it came as little relief. Images of what he prayed not to find upon entrance hindered his hands as he jabbed in his key and turned the lock. For good measure, he pulled out his gun and turned off the safety just before he turned the knob for real this time and entered the premises, slowly and stealthily.

Nearly quiet wasn't quiet enough for Drizzt's sensitive ears. Even across the apartment, and with muted cartoon characters going on about killing some poor boy named Kenny in the background, the drow heard quite clearly the click of the locks giving way. The intruder didn't enter right away, heightening his tension. Drizzt wished he had a better weapon, but it was too late for him to flee to the kitchen and retrieve one of the cooking daggers now.

The door slowly slid open and the elf watched as a man entered, trying his damnest to be stealthy. But what really drew Drizzt's attention was the peculiar chunk of sliver metal that the man held in his hands. He'd never seen a gun before, but Drizzt didn't need to in order to understand what it was capable of. The way the man carried himself, the way his steps were cautious and his arms kept steady and still, the way his eyes always stared right down the tip of where this strange weapon pointed, all of this told Drizzt not to stand anywhere in front of the man when their fight started. Seeing no quiver anywhere on the man, though the ranger already suspected that such a thing was unnecessary as all indications of this weapon pointed to much smaller projectiles, he was unsure if the weapon was good only for one deadly use or if more shots were hidden on the intruder's person somewhere. Slowly, the drow sunk to his knees as the strange man checked the living room cautiously and moved toward the kitchen. He glanced only once down the hall as he past it, but didn't see the hunter crouching in the dark recess.

And that's all Drizzt needed to strike.

Something flew out of the darkness at his head and Dezzi reacted instinctively. Whirling, he fired two shots, but was surprised when all that dropped was a thick paper-back book. His shock didn't last long as something pulled his feet out from under him and then twisted the gun, already firing shots three and four, out of his hand. A fist decked him squarely across the face.

Drizzt growled angrily against a pain in the hand that held the gun, throwing it aside as hard as he could. Now on even ground with the stranger the two began a desperate brawl between themselves, furious and ferocious and utterly unstoppable. Drizzt, trained in the vicious drow ways that demanded a high tolerance of pain, would not yield to the blows that came upon him or the various slams his body took into walls and the floor. Similarly, Dezzi held his own just as well, though he couldn't see as well in the dark against what he fought. Both of the males, human and drow, only found themselves driven by the honor of defending the sleeping girl laying just down the hallway they fought at the end of, both of them convinced this stranger they did battle with now meant to hurt her.

So they were a bit surprised when that girl came running down the hall, shirking in a shrill voice and landing blow after blow on their arms and backs as they rolled about until Drizzt untangled himself and managed to roll away. Dezzi was on his feet and ready for another round but a well-rounded smack to his chest stole his breath and down he went. Drizzt didn't need to be reminded again of the damage the woman was capable of dealing out with that club so, even though he stayed in a defensive crouch and growled menacingly at his rival, he did not launch another attack.

"What The Hell Is The Matter With You Two?!" Katie yelled. She looked between Drizzt and Dezzi, though neither looked at her as they held their ground. "My Gawd! I thought there were CATS fighting out here! BIG ones!" She glared at each of them. "WELL?!"

"I was protecting you from the intruder!"

Katie shot several looks between the two, thrown for a loop as they both spoke the same words at the same time. "Okay, NO! No, no, no! Both of you, STOP IT right now!" She pointed at Drizzt and indicated the loveseat. "Go sit down, I'll be with you in a minute. And You!" she rounded on Dezzi. "Kitchen table. Sit down. NOW." Her tone left little room for argument on either side. Reluctantly, the two males backed away from one another to the corner designated to them. Katie angrily moved into the kitchen and turned on the light to both that room and the living room.

After some rummaging she came back out with two bags of ice and just as many kitchen towels. She handed one to Dezzi and inspected the damage done to his face, muttering crossly under her breath. She brought the other makeshift ice pack to Drizzt, ignoring her roommate's inquiries as to where their usual blue one was, and repeated the process. On a march back to the hallway she stopped at the most horrifying sight she had ever seen in her young life. Color drained from her face as she bent to pick up the wreckage. "You…_SHOT_…My BOOK?!"

"He threw it at my face!" Dezzi cried defensively. Katie rounded on the drow.

"I feel I should have the final say in what direction my life goes and at that moment I wanted my life to go hurtling at his head in ways of a distraction so I didn't end up being shot with his strange weapon," Drizzt spoke with a level clarity. His eyes only looked up innocently at the fuming woman, not at all pretending that he felt completely justified in his actions. "If it's any consolation, I found a bit of closure in the act of hurling the book to its doom about the fact that my life has been spread all over your lands."

"Wonderful," Katie said, her voice dripping with venomous sarcasm. She spun on her heel and marched irritably down the hall.

"Dezzi, I presume?" Drizzt spoke first. Angry green eyes glared at him, and the drow nodded. "You are Katie's roommate. She spoke of you briefly. I apologize for attacking you in your own home, but I thought you meant her harm."

"Funny," Dezzi said, repositioning the ice pack. "I was going to say the same thing to you. Who are you anyway?"

"Drizzt Do'Urden."

"Tch, no seriously, who are you?"

The drow furrowed his brows at that. "I am exactly who I say. Why do you think I'm lying to you?"

"Because anyone who knows Katie knows that name, and they know it's only associated with some fictional dark elf guy. And if you don't start telling me who you really are, I'll come over there and finish this."

"You Will Do No Such Thing!" Katie barked upon her return. She slammed a box on the kitchen table and started rummaging through it, quick to find gauze and bandages and cleaning solution. Roughly, she started wiping at Dezzi's wounds, swatting his hand away when he tried to help her. "And for the record, Drizzt is telling the truth. And yes he really is a drow. And no, I'm not telling you how he got here because I barely understand myself and it's too damn late for this kind of testosterone fueled macho man nonsense, so CAN it." With a turn, the woman gave Drizzt the evil eye too as if daring him to add anything more.

Once Dezzi had stopped bleeding Katie repeated her bandaging on Drizzt, though she seemed to find considerably less to bandage. There was a blunt fury in her work though, the drow noted, as she handled him roughly and wouldn't pay heed to even the slightest indication that maybe she was hurting him further. Drizzt wasn't sure if forgoing the confessions of where he currently hurt would spare him a maiming later when he would try to lick his own wounds. Under the growling scrutiny of the woman before him, he decided he didn't want to chance it and offered up every little boo boo he could feel.

Apparently tending to the wounded wasn't enough to sate Katie's fury and she took to banging around the kitchen instead. Safe in their timeout corners, the males took to sizing each other up once more, through Drizzt did so more out of curiosity then in lingering doubts and fears about the safety of his home being threatened.

Dezzi was a sore spot of jealousy to Drizzt. The drow didn't know how many times, in his seven years on the surface, he had wished for the simple looks of the human. The young man very nearly looked like any of the few surface elves Drizzt had encountered. Blond hair and tan skin, a tall, lean muscular body, and such vibrant green eyes. even bearing the swollen signs of a recent fight, he was still beautiful. Looking down at his own black skin, he allowed himself to let the bitter feelings wash over him, accepting his own disdain for the way he looked. Drizzt inhaled deeply, his emotions coming to a tumultuous head inside him, and with the exhale let them all go. No matter what he wished for, he was still a drow. He could never change that fact. And hating himself for it would only make himself more miserable when he already had enough raciest challenges from a whole that only saw skin deep.

"I'm going to take a shower," Dezzi announced suddenly, snapping the house guest from his lamenting thoughts. He rose slowly and Drizzt tensed as he approached, needing to do so to get past to the hall. When the human was well within whispering earshot he hissed lowly, "If I have to come out here…" He had meant to let the threat hang forebodingly in the air, but upon closer inspection of Drizzt, something became alarmingly apparent to the human in the new light shed on the drow. "Is he wearing my shirt?!" Dezzi cried. "Why are you wearing my clothes?!"

"He doesn't FIT into my clothes!" Katie shot at her distraught roommate. "Would you rather he walked around completely naked? Either he wears your clothes or he goes naked, you pick Dezzi!" Drizzt shifted in his seat uncomfortably, thinking he should have some say in this debate, but the banter between the two humans did not allow him to slip even a single word in.

"Did you give him a pair of my underwear too?"

"What? EWW! No I Did Not! Ew! Ew! Ew!"

"Wait, so he's going COMMADO under those jeans?!"

"Better than him using your underwear, I can tell you right now."

"NO! No It's NOT! His JUNK! It's all up in my pants now! THAT'S gross!"

"Are you seriously trying to have this conversation with me right now?"

"Katie, you're a female and as a female there are things you don't understand about guys."

"You ARE seriously trying to have this conversation with me right now."

"Woman swap pants all the time in Womantown and that's all fine and everything but guys NEVER cross junk, not ever! Not in Pantsland in Guyville! It's just Wrong!"

"Womantown? PANTSland? What are you talking about?!"

"It just goes against everything that is good and just in this world! You just crossed some seriously sacred lines missy!"

"Sacred lines, riiiiight…"

"You have NO IDEA how utterly enraged you have made all the powers that be in Guyville!"

"I'm shaking in my little boots."

"Coconuts of doom will rain upon your head now! I'm serious! This is totally serious Katie!"

"Well, it's good to know that you're still dumb enough to stand there and argue pointless drivel at me, Dezzi. I hereby diagnose that you're going to be just fine. Go take your shower."

"Fine I will! And don't come crying to me when the fates that be turn you into a toad for your retched and vile ways young lady. You will deserve every ounce of toadyness. I will thoroughly enjoy lording over you, toady McToad-toad!

Despite the heated debate, Katie's shoulders rocked with stifled giggles as Dezzi huffed down the hallway. "Toady McToad-toad?" she sniggered at Drizzt. "Do you have any idea what he mean in any of that?"

"I thought he wanted his clothes back," the drow replied, looking thoroughly confused. "I have every intention of giving them back, but I could not find the opening to tell him that."

"What?!" called Dezzi from down the hall. "No, not after your junk has rubbed all over my jeans! You can either keep those pants or burn them, I don't even care. Same for the shirt!" and he disappeared into another room with a slight slam of the door. Katie fell over in laughter as soon as they could hear water running.

"Fights of this nature are common between the two of you?" Drizzt asked nervously.

Sitting up and regaining a measure of composure, the brunette nodded. "I know when to take him seriously, but sometimes the things that boy says…" She shook her head and dissolved again into giggles.

"Then I should return his clothes when I can."

"If you think you can. I'm pretty sure he was serious about the burning them, but meh. If you're that worried about it I guess I can take you to the store now so we can get you some new ones."

"But…" the dark elf looked toward the window where he could only see slits of darkness through the vertical blinds. "Is it not still very late out? What merchant would still be selling his wares?"

"Wal-Mart is open," Katie said.

"And your rest…?"

The woman scoffed. "Between you popping up, the sounds of that fight and the gunshots, I'm pretty sure I'm—" A sudden urgent knock on the front door caused her to stop and look up. "Hold on," she said, getting to her feet to answer it. But before she could, the door opened on its own and a lithe form ran screaming in, diving behind the couch. Katie screamed and Drizzt was on his feet, pulling her back down before the crossbow could peek over the couch as another form rolled in from the door way.

"LET HER GO, YOU BASTARD SON OF A RAPIST OR I SWEAR I'LL SHOOT YOU!"

"Robin?!"

"ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!"

"I'm Not Hurting Her! You Have The Crossbow!"

"LET HER GO!"

"We Fucking Hear GUNSHOTS And You Just Go Charging In?!"

"Crossbow?"

"Morgan, I'm A Little Busy! LET HER GO—_**NOW**_!"

"Lower Your Weapon!"

"I Mean, Who Brings A Damn CROSSBOW To A Gun Fight?!"

"MORGAN! ROBIN! IT'S ELEVEN O'CLOCK AT NIGHT! WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING ROLLING INTO OUR HOUSE?!" Everyone turned to look at Dezzi, and three out of the four occupants started snickering. He stood with soap bubbles still licking the crown of his head, soaking wet, and holding a tiny pink hand towel over his googlies. The hilarity of the scene was sobered only slightly by the hand gun he held the hand not trying to keep himself covered.

"Who the hell is that?!" the human with the crossbow asked, indicating Drizzt with a terrifying jiggle of said weapon.

"Obviously a house guest," Katie shot back. "Gawd Robin, put that away before someone gets hurt!" She tried to sit up but the battle experienced dark elf pinning her down tensed his muscles and kept her still, lavender eyes never leaving the tip of the arrow. Robin looked to Dezzi for confirmation.

"I'd tell you it's alright to shoot that one, but Katie is in the way," the damp male stated.

With a resigned shrug, the one called Robin pulled their weapon back behind the couch. "Alright Dezzi, I guess you're the boss," they said as Drizzt relaxed away from Katie.

"Our boss who comes dressed to a fight in nothing but a pink frilly hand towel," sniggered Morgan.

"Well excuse me for in the middle of a shower when I heard all the damn commotion! My thoughts were not exactly 'better go put some pants on before those stupid heads kill Katie!' It was a little more 'crap! I'm gunna have to fight naked!' And for the record, Morgan, the towel is not _frilly_."

"Whatever bro," Morgan said. "It's still pink."

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Katie asked.

Robin crawled out from behind the couch, revealing that they were female, much to Drizzt's amazement. She was lean with short, brown hair and pale skin. The woman wore clothes similar to the ones he wore now and as she drew closer Drizzt shied away, embarrassed but the overflow of her cleavage. "Ummm, DUH! We're your neighbors. We heard the gunshots and we came to investigate. What was all that about?"

The woman in PJs looked between the flustered dark elf and her roommate, already heading back down the hall with a shake of his head. "There was a scuffle, Dezzi is overprotective. Robin, this is Drizzt. Drizzt, Robin."

"Why are you so…black?" Robin asked in wonder.

"Oh my god Robin," Morgan said, bopping her upside the head. "You can't just ask people why they're black!" Then he gave the shifting drow a once over. "Is he one of Airy's?" Morgan asked, kneeling beside the group. This one was male like the drow originally thought and, like the one he'd met before, he was blonde with long tresses, though the locks held a more darker hue. Both the newcomers had blue eyes though. "I mean, are those real?" With none of the revered fear or respect Katie had held, Morgan grabbed and pulled on Drizzt's ear, causing the drow to cry in surprise. "Oh, guess so."

"Hey!" Katie yelled and slapped Morgan, causing him to let go. "Don't just pull on him! At least have the decency to ask first! And for your information, he's not 'one of Airy's,' she doesn't even know he's here in town."

"Whatever," Morgan sat back. "She will be when she gets a look at him. Those are some pretty big points though. How'd you do that? Artificial add ins or something?" Still rubbing the yanked ear, Drizzt's only reply was a slightly sullen yet confused look.

"He's talking about your ears," Katie told the drow gently. "And no, they aren't the result of surgery. Drizzt was born with them."

"Really? What freak trick of nature causes that? Did your mother do bath salts while pregnant with you or something, Drizzit?"

"Drizzt," both females hissed at him. "Drizzt Do'Urden," Katie added. Robin turned wide eyes back on the drow.

"So he is one of Airy's," Morgan chuckled.

"Drizzt Do'Urden," Robin cut in before Katie could launch another swipe at the human male. "Like, THE Drizzt Do'Urden? Are you THE Drizzt Do'Urden?"

"I think I am the only Drizzt Do'Urden there is," the ranger replied. He cringed when the small woman let out a high pitched wail. He would have been concerned that she was dying, for her hands came up and flailed about her face for a moment, but an ecstatic smile contorted her face and added to his horror. Before he could think of the proper response her arms had wrapped around his neck, tumbling them to the floor and suddenly he knew what she was. Bravely he started to struggle, gasping out, "Ba—ban—shi—heee!"

"No Robin! Bad! Bad girl!" Katie yelled, prying at her friend's arms. "Let the nice drow go! Let him go now!"

"But I must love him to DEATH!"

"What?" Drizzt gasped, suddenly very afraid in his current inability to draw in a breath. More furiously he started to flail, but her grip on his neck only tightened.

"Robin seriously, you're freighting him! Let go! Morgan! Do something!"

"Drop the dark one or no snu-snu for a month, Robin."

The speed with which the suffocation stopped was so fast that it took Drizzt a moment longer to process that he could now take a breath. Coughing and chest heaving, he rolled to his side and tried to find his bearings again. A gentle hand rubbed his back; he nearly attacked but found it was only Katie. "Do you…" he panted, rubbing his neck, "always…keep company with….banshees?"

"Nah, Robin is more of a Succubus, if you know what I mean," Morgan said, earning a glance.

"I'm choosing to take that as a compliment and will pointedly ignore all the negative connotations that can be seen in it," Robin retorted.

"You're welcome, cupcake," Morgan replied with a smirk.

"Are you okay?" Katie asked. Drizzt sighed and nodded. "So, yeah, Robin is a fangirl…"

"What, and you're not?" the other brunette chuckled. "I'll bet you did the same thing when you saw him, didn't you?"

"She beat me with a club," Drizzt stated dryly.

"You WHAT?!" Robin cried.

"Oh, nice job," Morgan said with an approving nod.

"Can we talk about this later?" Katie sighed. "Drizzt, listen; I would never want you to lie about who you are, but I think we should consider being more careful with giving out your _full_ name, okay?"

"Wait, you mean we get to keep him all to ourselves?" Robin nearly screeched again.

"Unless you want to be carted away by the nice men in the white coats again, darling," Morgan put in. "Though I'm wondering about this one. Please, please tell me you didn't break him out of the funny farm, Katie. You should know better than anyone that the people who live in there are _supposed_ to be there."

The room fell deathly quiet and an entire silent conversation between Robin and Morgan exploded across their facial expressions. Katie looked away and pretended not to notice, but Drizzt did. Concerned at her stony façade, he reached out at touched her shoulder, meaning to ask what the matter was. But the sudden reappearance of Dezzi cut in with, "So is there going to be an all-night party going on in here, or what?"

At once all manner of the previous discomfort vanished, leaving Drizzt to wonder what had transpired.


	4. Author's Quick Note

**Author's note/apology:**

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for the long pause between the last chapter and the next but I just wanted to let everyone know that this fic has not been abandoned and I haven't dropped off the face of the earth (…..yet again…*nervous chuckle, sweatdrop, rubs the back of her head*). I am working on the next chapter, slowly but surely, and the only thing preventing me from updating in a timely matter is that once again my life has gotten horrendously busy. For the last two weeks I have been running on right around 3-4 hours of sleep every night and I predict this pattern will continue for at least roughly another 14 days. While in the past a lack of sleep seemed to make me a better writer, as of late I have been so dog tired that I tend to fall asleep at my keyboard whenever I finally sit down at the end of my day to work on this. But fear not. The next chapter should be posted sometime around the weekend of September 7th. Thank you all for being so patient with me and for your continued support.

~Child

**Update 10/19/12:**

OR! It could be posted over a month later than expected, because life is a little bit of a dick. You know, whatever works. I apologize again for random author's notes taking up chapter space, but I want to answer all reviews I've received and I also don't want to delete this little chapter thing in case the reviews associated with it get deleted or it messes up the who can post another review or not rule. I myself am rarely on here much anymore so I get frazzled trying to remember how things worked, and of course I don't expect them to be the exact same rules they were ten years ago. I will probably try extra hard to get two chapters ready to post for the next update so I can get rid of this not-related-to-the-story-chapter-thing so the admins don't yell at me and that way no one should encounter the "you already posted a review to this chapter" message and hopefully we won't lose any one's reviews. Hopefully….

**Nedy Rahn**: You have exploded my brain with things I had not considered. This may lead to shenanigans at some point in the story. Thank you for such a though provoking review. I do want Drizzt to explore this world, but I see now that I was a little bit bias with the things I wanted to expose him to. I am a huge Disney fanatic and so (_**SPOILER ALERT**_) at some point during the duration of this fic the poor drow is probably going to be dragged to the Happiest Place on Earth whither he wants to go or not. I just haven't quite figured out all the details about how that will be done yet. (_**end alert**_) But yes, there are a lot of places I want Katie to take him. Colossal Cave is now another consideration, but that requires a trip there myself first. :3 And yes, Tucson has malls and Sunglass Huts. But, I'm not sure that would be an issue for Drizzt, considering his eyes don't suffer quite the light blindness other drow do. I mean, he walks around in the surface world of his own realm during the day with relative ease. Also, in some respects sunglasses could be kind of a hindrance to him if he's gone this long without a pair. My roommate never wore them as a kid ad now she just can't as an adult. They make her dizzy and sick and actually mess with her sight more then they help. On top of Drizzt recently living in a place that has snow maybe 6-7 months out of a whole year, pure white snow which is blindingly reflective, I'm pretty sure he's probably conditioned himself to handle what Tucson throws at him. Sunglasses were always a back of the mind consideration, but I'm still flipping coins to try and decide if he'll even take to them.

**Hidden Moonlight**: Well, I hope I'm better late than never. Thank you for the review.

**Alexander Raphel**: Thank you for the tip, in fact that is a technique I use when writing. I have some attention span issues with it though, and tend to use it only when I'm having a thought that I absolutely do not want to lose in the woods somewhere. Also, if left to only those devices, I'll write out all the pretty scenes I want to write about, and then lose interest in connecting these dots in an actually coherent story. I have another story in my workshop for which I have written/typed about 200 pages of material for, not even counting the pages I have already posted, and I'm still trying to trudge through connecting all those seemingly random dots. There are scenes in this story I'm determined to get to that won't take place until the last couple of chapters and I'm really hoping leaving them exclusively in my head will prompt me to keep going with this. Also, there are scenes for other Drizzt related fanfics I want to write that I'm trying not to get sidetracked in, so hopefully leaving those exclusively in my head will also prompt me to get through this as well. Thank you for the watch, follow and constant reviews. :3 Also, random back note to the Guen gender issue you brought up earlier, I did catch Salvatore referring to Guen as "she" by Pasha Pook in _The Halfling's Gem_. In the very following line by the character talking to Pasha Pook, Guen is then referred to as "he." I don't know if this is someone messing up in the editing department, Salvatore making a mistake in his writing, or Salvatore just furthering his attempts at trying to mess with my head about Guen's gender, but I found that and thought of you. Again, I truly think you're right and that Guen is in fact female, and I choose to believe Mr. Salvatore was purposefully sticking a red flag right there to see if anyone was actually paying attention to this matter.

**Silentmidnightdeath**: I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. :3 Thank you for the review.

**EllieYvonne**: Thank you for the review and I am also glad you are enjoying the story so far. I think I could only feint if I opened my bedroom door and Drizzt were just laying there tied to my bed completely naked, but that would be more due to the blood loss from sudden nose bleeds then anything else. XD

**Auragonian**: Poor Drizzt may have to deal with a couple fangirls, we'll see how bad the attempts at catching his attention all the time gets. And yeah, Robin is a little bit special. She's really kind of taking off on her own and completely disregarding everything I want her to be/do, so that should make my job as writer more amusing…As always, thank you for the review.

And a big thank you to all those that read along. I do hope I can continue to amuse and entertain you all! :3

~Child


	5. To Wally World and Back Again

(There is an extended author's note in the prior chapter which answers reviews. Please read if interested, thank you. :) )

**Chapter Four: To Wally World and Back Again**

"Whose car are we taking?" Dezzi asked, locking the apartment door behind everyone. After 15 minutes spent searching for a decent pair of shoes for Drizzt, the gang was heading out for a midnight run to get necessities for the displaced drow. Since the only pair of acceptable shoes that the girls could find for Drizzt was a pair of flip-flops, the girls had to take a moment to train the formally stealthy drow not to jump or flail every time he took a noisy step. Getting him to walk without cringing in anticipation of the slap on his feet was another matter entirely. He assured them it didn't actually hurt, but the sensation of something slapping the soles of his feet was not a comfort. Eventually Drizzt just took to shuffling his feet rather than lifting them up at all, much to the disappointment of Morgan and Dezzi who sat snickering unhelpfully on the couch the whole time. After another two minute crisis about whether they should cover Drizzt's ears or not, the women decided it really wasn't required and they were off.

"Mine, since I was sure you'd throw a shitfit about Drizzt being in your truck," Katie replied. "Not to mention your truck can't fit all of us and their car is…ummm…"

"Held together with duct tape, willpower and the steady mumble of prayers amongst all those who climb into the speeding deathtrap," Morgan supplied. "When exactly will we get to take Drizzt out for a spin, by the way?"

"We're taking my car." The brunette turned and gave the drow a very serious look. "Don't you EVER get into their car if Morgan is going to drive. In fact don't get into ANY car when Morgan says he will drive. I don't care if your only two choices are a drunk driver who can't even stand upright anymore or Morgan, you DO NOT get in the car when Morgan is driving. You don't even let your most hated enemy of all time get into a car when Morgan is driving. Have I made myself clear?"

"Umm…Wh—"

"Oh, c'mon! I don't drive that bad. I'm at least better then the drunk driver."

"I call shotgun!" Robin yelled as she bounded down a flight of stairs.

"Actually, Robin, I wanted Drizzt to sit up front," Katie called as she chased after her.

"What?! But that puts me in the back with the boys!"

"I am better then the drunk driver. Just so you know. I would never endanger your life THAT badly, okay Drizzt?" Nodding because he didn't know any better, Drizzt shuffled his way towards the same concrete stairs Morgan and Dezzi were herding him. A large vast pool of black tar spread out at the bottom of the steps, just off the edge of a wide concrete walkway that seemed to encircle the entire encampment. Rows upon rows of metal carriages lined the tar closest to the dwellings. The girls were bouncing around a grey one in particular.

"Katie is making you sit up front," Robin said with a pout. "She's putting me with the wolves."

"I'm sorry, but you know how to handle them better then Drizzt would," Katie retorted. "Just get in; it won't be a long ride."

"If you are uncomfortable Robin," Drizzt said, stalling the others from climbing in right away. "I can switch with you. I really don't see what the problem is…"

"They will eat him alive, Robin." The leering grins on the male's faces told the smaller brunette that her friend was right.

"Alright, fine," she huffed. Turning toward the drow she added more sweetly, "thank you for your offer Drizzt, but unfortunately for me, I seem to be even more chivalrous then you. Sit in the front where it's safe. Morgan, you get the middle and if I am attacked…Just remember that I know where you sleep at night."

"You making kinky promises?" Morgan chuckled.

"No. I'm making terrifying threats. Get in."

The passengers in the front had plenty of roomy space, though the back was more hard pressed for elbow room. Katie promised she'd drive extra fast and ignored most of Morgan's under breathed mutterings about reckless driving indeed. He probably would have continued if Dezzi hadn't shouted "YELLOW CAR!" and decked him on the arm.

"DAMNIT!" Morgan cried.

"Janet!" Robin yelled shortly after.

"I love you," the humans all sang in unison. Drizzt stared at them like they'd lost their minds and wondered if there was still time for him to bail out of the carriage before they started moving.

Too late.

Katie turned her hand behind a giant wheel and the entire carriage roared to life. By now the overall appeal of things surprising him was starting to wear a little thin, so the drow didn't jump nearly as high as he might have just hours earlier. He wanted to ask what magic made the carriage move without the use of a beast of burden but first he wanted to be assured his traveling companions weren't all a bunch of crazy nuts. Not that the drow had anything against traveling with nutcases, he'd done so for near seven years at one point in his early life after all, but he'd really rather be told up front about it. "Umm, what was that about?" he questioned, though Drizzt seriously wondered if he even wanted to know. "What is a janet?"

"Don't worry about it hun," Katie said, backing the car out of its parking space. "Why is it beeping? Who's not wearing their seat belt?"

"Don't look at us, we're buckled in back here," Dezzi said. "Is Drizzt?"

"Am I what?"

"Oh no, you're not buckled in." Katie reached over Drizzt's chest and grabbed hold of a band he hadn't seen before. "You take this and hook it here, okay?" She showed him the thick metal catch and where to clip it at his hip. "You ALWAYS do that when you get inside a car, okay?"

"Alright…" the confused drow replied. "Ummm, what is it for?"

"It's for keeping you safe in your seat."

"Yes but…" Drizzt looked around the inner cabin of this strange carriage. "I do not think I will fall out of the wagon of my own accord."

"It's for if we crash," Morgan spoke up.

"Crash?"

"Yeah, those can be deadly, you know. The seatbelt will keep you locked to your seat instead of flying all around the cabin of the car while the crash is going on, ideally saving your life if you happen to crash under the right circumstances. It doesn't protect against shrapnel and decapitation, though. It's also not the best thing to be wearing if you crash into any body of water. Or if the car explodes in a fire."

"THANK YOU, Morgan, you are very informative, as usual." Katie glared at her friend from her rearview mirror.

The blond man just smiled at the semi horrified look on the drow's face. "You're welcome cupcake."

"These crashes," Drizzt turned toward Katie, "they happen frequently?"

"Only if Morgan is your driver."

"Baaah, lies and cancer. I only drive as awesomely as I do to avoid the crazyheads gunning to kill me is all."

"YELLOW CAR!" Whomp.

"DAMNIT!"

"Janet!"

"I love you!"

"We aren't even out of the parking lot Dezzi, gawd!"

"The rules state as soon as you're in the car and buckled the game starts," Dezzi snickered.

"With all due respect, what _are_ they doing?" Drizzt asked.

Katie rolled her eyes, but was now to preoccupied on the road to give him her full attention. Drizzt didn't mind in the least though, figuring that the more attention she gave to what she was doing the better off they all would be. He just hoped his inability to keep questions to himself right then wouldn't doom them all. "It's this silly road game, like Slug Bug."

"Slug…bug?"

"Oh, yeah, you don't know…" Katie sighed. "Ummm…it's basically a game that is only played while in a car, traveling from one spot to another, and basically they're just looking for yellow cars and beating each other up every time they see one."

"Why?"

"Drizzt if I knew why I'd probably be the reigning champ at that game."

"YELLOW CAR!"

"AHHDAMNITFRIKENMORGAN!"

"You threw off the groove!"

"I'm sorry but you threw off the emperor's groove. Out the window with you!"

"Ow! Frick Morgan! No! Oh, YELLOW CAR!" Whomp.

"DAMNIT!"

"Janet!"

"I love you!"

"There! I got you're stupid groove back! Leave me alone!"

"YELLOW CAR!" Whomp.

"DAMNIT!"

"Janet!"

Everyone now sang the "I love you" part in chorus, even Drizzt whispered it with touch of a smile despite not really understanding the joke behind it. Indeed the ride was short lived though as Katie turned the car into a large parking lot and pulled up to another edge of concrete. The four humans cleared out of the car and Drizzt tried to follow but was stopped by two problems. The first was that the seatbelt locked his hips firmly in place to the chair and didn't seem to want to let him go at all. No amount of tugging on the strap would let it loose. Was it….tightening? The second problem was quite simply that there was no wiggle room for Drizzt to try and slip out of the bondage and that included knowing how to get the car door open.

"Where's Drizzt?" Katie asked.

"I thought he was right behind me," Morgan said. "We walked like five feet into the store, how did he get lost?"

"Maybe he ran away. Wouldn't be the first time we've caused someone to go careening off into the night screaming in terror."

"Oh, I hate that. They always come back with a mob and the mob always has these torches and pitchforks…"

"He did not get lost, and we did not walk only five feet," Katie said marching back the way they had come. Approaching her car she found the drow was no less free from his captivity. He looked around sharply when she unlocked the car with a press of her key before opening the front passenger door. "Get yourself stuck?" the woman asked with a smile.

"Only a little," Drizzt replied sheepishly. "Please explain?"

"There's a red button on the seatbelt where it latched at your hip. Go ahead an—yeah, you press it like that to get free. See? Easy. And to open the door from the inside, the handle is down here. You would just pull like so, okay?"

"Okay," the dark elf sighed. He quickly climbed out of the car and tried not to look too embarrassed by the incident.

"If it makes you feel better, I got stuck inside that car when I first got it myself. The inside handles are really oddly placed."

"So I had noticed."

"Hey Drizzt!" Morgan called from the entrance where the others were waiting. "They're called flip flops! They're SUPPOSED to flip and flop! Quit shuffling and PICK UP YOUR FEET!" Robin promptly punched him in the arm. She then also promptly made of scene about how the action nearly broke her hand.

"You can ignore him whenever you want," Katie said as they pulled up with the others again. "Okay, we're here for some basic personals. Let's start with underwear. Drizzt, hunny, stay close to us now…"

He took the offered hand and let the woman pull him along but the dark elf was much to fascinated by the sheer size of the building and all that was inside it. An entire marketplace was stuffed within four walls and although there were many goods presented he could see no single merchant tending to their products. True, the ranger had not many chances to willingly walk through a market but he was sure this was a strange way of doing business. There were some workers moving about, other humans carting more products through the isles where they unloaded it and filed it onto shelves or racks, and he supposed they were responsible for making sure nothing was stolen even though none of them seemed to pay the group any mind. Then another thought occurred to him and he had to ask, "Katie…in your realm…are there human slaves…?"

"What?" the brunette turned down an isle and the others followed. "I'm sorry, I was focused, what did you ask?"

"He wants to know about the slaves," Morgan smirked. "They're totally slaves, Drizzt. And their lives are miserable." Once more, Robin hit him.

"Don't tell him things that aren't true, he'll never trust you when you do tell him the truth!"

"Who says I was lying? I'm totally telling a version of the truth. You know, depending on your point of view."

"Slaves? What slaves?"

"He meant the workers," Dezzi pointed out the obvious. "They're not _really_ slaves, Drizzt. You can ask them and they will probably tell you they feel like they are, but they are not held here against their will because someone owns them. They're paid for their work and have lives beyond this place. Slavery is illegal here."

"It is?"

"It very much is. I would know, I'm an upholder of the law."

Morgan snorted. "Hey, mister 'upholder of the law,' you're just a security guard at a hotel. Let's not get pious."

"I'm a protector of the innocent," Dezzi huffed. "Whatever you want to call it, I'm more then qualified to tell him slavery is illegal and it doesn't happen here."

"Doesn't happen here legally, anyway," Morgan put in.

"Hey Boys!" With a shake of some plastic wrapped cloth, the argument was put aside as Katie interrupted. "Which is better for your dangly bits, boxers or briefs? Or does it really matter?"

"Just go with boxer-briefs, it's the best of both worlds," Robin said.

"NO!" Dezzi cried and pulled away the package she tried to hand Katie. "No, ummm, boxers! Boxers are surly the very BEST for boy bits. Right, Morgan?"

The blond male gave his friend a peculiar and slightly horrified look. "Under the condition that we never mention this EVER and no one asks me how I know, I'm going to say the gayest thing I may ever say in my entire life by stating the following: dude, YOU wear boxer-briefs."

"I…Ummm…you know…maybe I…switched? To boxers….so you should _agree_ with me, okay?" The girls exchanged looks with each other as Dezzi stumbled over his own words.

Morgan threw his hands in the air. "Noooo, sorry, this is already crossed into awkward turtle waters and I'm just going to agree with the girls and start paddling back to shore as fast as I possibly can."

"What are boxers? And briefs?" The four humans turned their attention to the confused drow. The males looked slightly mortified and the expressions of the females was more amused than anything. The dark elf couldn't decide if he should try to shrug away his words and abandon the conversation or plough forward in his own curiosity.

"Damnit Drizzt, don't go shooting holes in the boat!"

"They are each a kind of underwear," Katie filled in. She held up the package in her hand and pointed to the man who left very little room for imagination. "Underwear goes under your clothes. Remember the fight," the woman gave a pointed look at her roommate, "that Dezzi and I had about you wearing his clothes? He was upset because I didn't give you any of these to wear but considering the very personal nature of underwear, I didn't think you'd be comfortable with that if I had."

Drizzt frowned at the package. "I'm supposed to be comfortable wearing that at all?"

"Oh lord help us, he prefers to be commando."

Katie kicked at Dezzi and gave Robin an annoyed look as she snickered and eyed the drow once more in lecherous fashion. Off down the aisle Morgan had already stridden off singing a rousing round of _Row, Row, Row Your Boat_. "Well, ummm…I guess if you don't want to wear them—"

"Oh no, we're buying him the underwear," Dezzi interrupted. "And yes, he will wear them."

"Care to try and make me?" Drizzt challenged.

"Oh, don't break them up," Robin pleaded. "I want to see this happen."

The other brunette gave her friend an almost lethal glare. "Hey! Boys! I told you to keep it civil and that's just what you're gonna do even if it kills ya! Now, Dezzi, Drizzt will not be wearing your clothes forever so what underwear he wants, or doesn't want, is up to him. It's not like it really matters, you already know he's commando under those jeans, right?"

"Really?!" The drow took a large step back from the petite female when her voice hit a note that reminded him too much of the scream she emitted earlier that same day. She smiled up at him with a bit too much mischievous glee.

"Focus, Robin! You have a husband!" Katie sighed. "Now, I know men get all weird about their bodies and sharing personal things like this, but this is a really stupid thing to fight about and I _will not_ tolerate it. If you guys start fighting again it had better be over something really important and not underwear. Understand?"

"Fine," Dezzi conceded. "But then I don't what him wearing any more of my pants. He can get his own."

"Would you like his laundry washed separately too?" Katie asked sarcastically. "And just for the record we are not making Drizzt wear a special bra so his nipples won't touch your shirts, you okay with that?"

"Do you want a truce or do you want me to hold a bloody grudge?" Dezzi asked. "I'm fine with sharing shirts. And jackets. And…._clean_ socks….I would be fine with sharing pants as well if he would just wear the stupid underwear, but because Drizzt has to be difficult I don't see why I can't be too."

"Okay! So, no more pants swapping. Drizzt, are you okay with that?" Slowly the drow nodded his own consent to the agreement. Katie shoved the packages of underwear back on the shelf and marched off to find their lost companion. Sullenly, Dezzi and Drizzt followed suit and behind them skipped a little woman with a sly grin. Katie dragged them all across the store collecting basic necessities for Drizzt; a toothbrush, a few pants, basic sneakers, a hairbrush. After fifteen minutes of wandering they had collected four armfuls of things, but there was one thing they hadn't spotted.

Morgan was found in the toy aisle, staring down a wall of packaged dolls. When asked what he was doing his only response was to question how fast they'd get thrown out of the store if he were to start reenacting the Salem witch trials with Bratz dolls in the middle of said aisle. The girls made quick work of prying him away. A miniature squabble broke out amongst the friends, and like ever before Drizzt found his attention drifting away from the argument when he couldn't get a word in edgewise or even understand the topic. This aisle was one of the only ones he hadn't been dragged down yet, and curiously his eyes roamed over the toys. There was an awful lot of pink.

A small package caught his eye though and he stopped. There was a little purple unicorn smiling up at him from her plastic encasement. Bemused, he picked the package up and looked it over. There wasn't much to it, just a simple pony in a box. The back told him her name was Twilight Sparkle and she had five magical friends he could collect. Reverently, he put her back, but his hand lingered a while longer on the box.

He thought of his goddess, Mielikki, and of her unicorn form. Even back home in the world he knew much better than this one he had never seen one of these majestic creatures personally. Of course, Montolio had given him fantastic descriptions of their shared goddess so he was bemused by the toy. Clearly it wasn't his goddess but its presence gave a small measure of comfort, as if she were still with him. But the comfort was small indeed. The figurine also reminded him that he alone had come through to this world and suddenly he was worried for what might have happened to Guenhwyvar. He hadn't been far from the dwaven entrance to their home in Icewind Dale, so there was a chance the panther would be found by Bruenor or Cattie-bre. He worried though if the dwarves would attempt to hurt the figure, disliking and even mistrusting magical items they didn't understand. He very deeply hoped then the little girl that so sweetly befriended him would find and hide it until he could get home. It wasn't until Robin nudged his arm that he seemed to come back to reality.

"You get lost again, or what?" she asked, grinning at him.

"Sorry," the drow muttered. "I got side tracked."

"Happens to the best of us. C'mon, the others are starting to get cranky."

* * *

The car ride home was relatively quiet. Dezzi and Morgan where nowhere near as rambunctious as they had been on the way out. Not that Drizzt was complaining. He might've even been lulled to a kind of sleep by the rocking car, if Morgan's earlier words didn't keep his alert eyes roaming the road ahead for potential dangers. In the back Robin was humming an unfamiliar tune and stroking Morgan's hair. "That's a new one," Katie finally said as they pulled into their home parking lot. "Something you're working on?"

"Yeah, a little bit," the petite brunette replied. She stretched and jostled the boys out of their trances. "It hasn't got words, but Airy is a little possessive of that job and all. Speaking of, you guys are coming to the show tonight, right?"

"Have we ever missed a show considering that you can't play unless Dezzi is there?"

"Yeah but, now you have Drizzt to look after. Are you planning on bringing him out to our show?"

"Well, yeah. I mean what's the alternative? Keep him locked up inside?"

"You don't both have to be there," Robin said as she climbed out of the now parked car. "I'll tell Airy you couldn't make it because something important came up and you can stay home with your tall, dark and handsome." Another of the woman's signature lewd grins finished off that sentence and Katie found herself blushing with the unspoken implications.

"Drizzt is coming to the show," Dezzi said, his tone leaving very little room for argument. He waved off help from Katie in collecting the shopping bags and started up the stairs.

"What crawled up his butt and died?" Robin retorted.

"He's tired," Katie defended. "Look, we'll see about taking Drizzt later okay? You guys go get some rest and we're gunna do the same. Night guys." She hugged each of her friends in turn, though Drizzt was a little less comfortable reciprocating the same farewell when Robin tried it on him.

Already Dezzi had retired to his room, so Drizzt made due helping Katie unpack the bags. Like before he could sense that she was putting off sleep for him and he felt bad for imposing upon her. "Thank you," he gently told her, "for everything that you've done. I'm not sure I can ever repay you for being so patient with me."

The woman blushed a bit and handed him a neat stack of clothes. "Don't worry about it. I figure this is the least I can do for attacking you."

"I don't mean to be rude, but I do have concerns about getting home and doing so relatively soon."

She sighed and ran her fingers through the loose locks of her hair. "Oh, right…"

"They are pressing but I don't think much can be done if we are tired. May we speak of them first thing in the morning?"

"I can do that, yeah." Katie chuckled then and added, "Might not be up until the afternoon though, is that okay? Because technically it's three in the morning now and all…"

"That would be fine. I just want you to get some rest first." He tried smiling at her for reassurance but she glanced away too quickly.

"Oi!" Dezzi called from his doorway. "Are you coming to bed or what? I'm tired and would like to go to sleep now."

"So you are going to let Drizzt sleep with you," Katie teased. She lead Drizzt down the hall and lingered outside the three doorways that lead to either bedroom and the guest bathroom.

"Well he's NOT sleeping with you," the human male countered. "If it turns out he really is some psycho and he tries to kill us in our sleep, I want first dibs on cracking his skull open, okay?"

Katie opened her mouth to retort but black fingers brushed against her lips in a gentle way and she turned to look at her drow houseguest instead. "I understand your concern," Drizzt spoke somberly. "And I accept your hostility toward me, but may we please leave it for the morning? I think we are all a little tired and I would sleep better if we could just be in agreement to stay away from each other's throats until then, at the very least. My head really doesn't need to take any more beatings so I promise to behave and concur with any requests you have." Tentatively he offered his free hand. "Truce?"

Green eyes stared down at the offered appendage in a mild scowl. "Any requests?" Dezzi challenged. He ignored Katie's glare as the ranger agreed. With a final nod he slapped the pale palm of his hand against Drizzt's waiting hand and said, "fine. But the requests will be made behind my closed door and Katie doesn't get a say in them."

"Now wait just a—"

"I agree." The two humans fell silent at this simple utterance. Dezzi hadn't expected it to be that simple and Katie could not believe the drow would be so trusting.

"Drizzt, he's being irrational," the woman started. "Let me talk to him, I'll make sure he won't—" Once more she was silenced by gentle dark fingers.

"You've done a lot for me, and I am thankful for it make no mistake. But earning Dezzi's trust and friendship is something I must do on my own. I do not feel that he is capable of hurting me in intentional cruelty, so do not worry so much about us, please." He smiled soothingly at her worried expression and patted her head, a gesture of comfort that he would often showed young Cattie-bre when her own emotions tried to get the better of her.

"Fine…." The young woman sighed. "You'll do what you're going to do regardless of what I say anyway. Just know this, Dezzi: I'd better get Drizzt back in the same condition as now, when I gave him to you, okay?"

"Okay, I promise I won't murder him without good cause."

"I mean it!"

"I do too."

Katie huffed indignantly, and she huffed again when Drizzt calmly stepped through the bedroom door. She didn't smile back at her roommate's attempt at looking reassuring, and for a long moment after the door shut she didn't move from standing right outside in the hallway. But when the minutes ticked away and no blood curdling screams were heard, when neither Drizzt nor Dezzi tore from the room looking for her help, when all she could make out standing there were soft incoherent murmurs, she had to admit defeat and turn around to head back to her own room. Before shutting her own door she yelled for the boys to hear, "The Same Damn Condition, Dezzi!"


End file.
